Many business owners don’t see the importance of ranking their business in local search. Lots of them are hitting the organic results without thinking what they can get if they ranked locally. Since Google is the leading search engine, I think if you want to rank higher on organic results one of the best way is to use all the possible features that Google provide like creating a Google+Local page for your business.

Many people are using Google Maps in search for a service or a product and those who don’t have Google+Local page are missing a lot of leads. But due to many updates on Google Algo and changes on the Result Page where big G included Local Results in Organic Search Result Page, I think business owners should not disregard adding their business in Google+Local.

So if those business owners think that it is time to add their business in Google+Local just follow these 3 basic steps that will surely help your local campaign.

You must have a Google Account to use for you to login and create a business profile.

You must fill up all the required info and make sure that the profile is 100% complete. Make sure that all the info is correct and true. On the category you must choose at least one category recommend by Google then you can put your own custom categories. Note: Do not put city identifier on keywords (like plumber Miami or Los Angeles Chiropractor) because it is against Google TOS. To help you select the proper categories you can use Mike Blumenthals Google LBC Categories tool.

Verified your Google+Local page. Google requires postcard verification for newly created Google+Local page. This verification takes 2-3 weeks, Google send postcard containing the PIN to the address of the business. This PIN will use to activate your Google+Local page. If you are trying to claim an existing page and there are no changes on the business address then you can select a phone verification process. They will call you and will give you the PIN code that you will need to activate the listing.

Citation is occurrence of your business NAP (Name, Address and Phone) on other websites. Listing you business in tons of Local Directories can be very helpful in your local ranking. Just make sure all the info is accurate for all of the profiles that you will create. You must also avoid creating duplicate profile because it can be a cancer to your local ranking.

3. Collect Reviews for your business

Reviews are very important to a business; it is like a recommendation that your business or service is good (except if someone post a bad review to your business). The more good reviews you have, the more trust you gain and the more chances clients will choose you.

According to the survey that David Mihm conducted last year regarding Local Search Ranking Factors, experts say that reviews are one of the local ranking factors. It is also more helpful if there is a keyword phrase on the reviews (but you can’t tell your customer to include that in their reviews).

So where to post these reviews? For me since you are hitting your local campaign, you must put an extra effort on your Google+Local page because this is what the client see when searching for a local business. But also don’t forget the 3rd party review site that Google scrape. According to the research made by Adam Steele and his local SEOteam regarding those directories that scraped by Google there are many 3rd party review sites appeared and citysearch got the highest scrape point. So meaning Google trusted these sites and displayed those links along its Google+Local page.

Conclusion: Having a good rankings on Local Results or even in Organic does not guarantee customers will acquire your service or product. The best tactic is making your campaign clean and true. Build trust and reputation by providing high quality service to your entire client. Remember every happy customer left your business could be a way for another leads.

About John Vincent Aquino

Filipino Internet Marketer, SEO, Local SEO, Link Builder and Virtual Assistant. He started his online campaign last Dec 2011 at Odesk and already lend his hands to hundreds of businesses in the US, Canada, Australia and UK. Follow him on twitter @jvinceaquino

Yes!!! Finally, something about ranking my local business through google places. Just one question Vince, is YELP worth it here in the Philippines? Do Filipinos even check out Yelp? Foursquare is probably something I’d try since I have friends who use it.

Thank you Zion for dropping by. Regarding your question I think you can’t use Yelp here in the Philippines, it only support 19 countries. Check on Yelp’s website in footer. I also tried signing up on it but always the same error message “Yelp is overworked right now”. When I am using this site for my client, I need my proxy changer turned on to be able to use this site. Yeah Foursquare is cool but try Inbound.org!

Fail..I already have an account in Foursquare. I have checked Inbound.org but I’m not really much a SEO guy. Is it okay to create a Google Business Place/Page for my internet business (I mean, I currently own a start up social bookmarking site)

After I have read this, I created one. I was just wondering what would be it’s effects on my site?

If you will create a Google Place page for your business, you will need a physical location. You can use your house address just hide it (but that’s not recommended.) Since the update on Google Search Results page, most results are blended where they show Local Results along with organic results. So getting your business in Google Place can be very helpful for your SEO campaign. I am pretty sure it will help you a little bit in your PR. But don’t just settle with only Google Place.